It is well known in the wine making industry to use a press for separating the fermented wine from the spent grape skins, seeds and other pulp material known in the art as must and the further resulting generally solid portion, pomace. The wine is then transferred to a second fermenting vessel for further aging and processing. The process of this separation is two-fold. First, the “free run” wine is drained from the fermenting vat or must on its own accord using gravity, siphon, or a pump. Second, the remaining must and a future pomace, which is quite moist and contains a significant volume of wine, is transferred (scooped or pumped) out of the vat and placed into the press to remove the majority of remaining wine from the pomace. It is also well known in the art that exposure to air (containing oxygen) will cause staling, oxidation, and other poor qualities to the finished wine. In addition, exposure to contaminants (bacteria and wild yeasts) from the atmosphere and surfaces of the press will cause undesirable flavors to form in the finished wine. For centuries a basket press (also known as ratchet press) was used to press the wine from the must and the future pomace. This is simply a series of vertical slats of wood aligned in a cylinder shape with small gaps between each slat for the wine to flow through. A wood disc is place on top and a crank (ratchet) is used to apply mechanical force (pressure) to the pomace thereby squeezing the wine through the gaps between the slats and maintaining the solids inside the basket. More modern presses use a perforated cylinder in lieu of the slats and may also use and expanding balloon instead of a mechanical crank. These are known in the art as bladder presses. All the current methods of separating the wine from the pomace involve transferring the pomace into a second vessel and, as such, add significant risk to the exposure of the wine to contamination and oxidation.
Thus, a better process and procedure is needed and desirable to drain “free run” wine and spirits and the remaining wine or spirits from must and the future pomace more efficiently, effectively and a lesser chance of producing an undesirable flavor and other poor qualities to the finished wine.
The present invention is directed to overcome one or more of the problems as set forth above.